Wednesday, November 21, 2012

I am thankful that I finally, finally finished my Ph.D. For a long time, I honestly thought I would never graduate – like when my boss repeatedly told me that I would have to first have to determine the structure of our 76 kDa protein using NMR before I would be allowed to defend.

I am thankful that even though my degree took years longer than it should, and I was put in a lot of unfair situations, I ended up with a wide, somewhat uncommon, skill set which made me competitive when applying for postdoc positions. I was able to choose between several excellent laboratories to continue my training.

I am thankful that I believed in myself enough to choose what was, undoubtedly, the most challenging and difficult of my postdoc options. I have jumped from cancer biology to biophysics and while I still feel a little over my head in my new lab, my skills as a scientist are growing by leaps and bounds, and I know I will mature as a scientist more in this lab than any of my other options.

I am thankful that I am able to live with my husband, at least until he moves in June for his fellowship. After 4 years apart, it’s nice to get to have a “normal” marriage for 10 months, before we go back to long-distance.

Most of all, I am thankful that after less than 4 months, I have settled into my new city so well that it already feels like I’ve lived here forever. My life is so full with friends, social activities, hobbies, and work I am happy to take home with me at the end of the day, that I no longer have the time or interest in sitting home and blogging.

Ha! He's finishing up his residency in June and moving for fellowship. His fellowship lasts a year, and hopefully after that he'll be able to find an attending position back here, but the job market is very saturated for radiologists in the city... we're keeping our fingers crossed!